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The Car Park King, And Another Crooked Man

The day was 22 August 1485, and apparently King Richard the III was so thoroughly pummelled at the Battle of Bosworth Field that his body was riddled with wounds, stripped naked and taken to Leicester where it was put on public display and later hastily buried at some Friary.

In this doc last night I learned it was all because of some society that sought to recover the good name of King Richard III that he was found, 500 years later. That group was the reason for the investigation into, well, initially I guess they were just trying to find the Greyfriars Friary Church itself, and then later MAYBE Richard.

So they found him in their first try, lying underneath this car park in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England – his head sort of askew, his crooked body resting rather sloppily in the ground, no signs of any ornaments, monuments, nothing, the area around him was completely and utterly bare of anything but earth, and there he lay forgotten.

Well, forgotten where he was buried, but not of him, not with Shakespeare bringing him to life as the classic evil villain, the monster, with the crooked mind to match his body.

And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stolen out of Holy Writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

Em, remind you of anyone?

Yeah, kinda leaped their last night watching this doc on the archaeology of the dig, and I wondered at what will be remembered of the rumptus 500 years from now? Where will his bones lie? And, what will the annals of time have to say of him?

Crook, liar, a traitor, who surrounded himself with his own ilk, the rich and crooked, thieves, traitors, inside traders, betrayers of his lavish life and greedy expectations.

That society was actually seeking to clean-up his name, like the rumptus followers of 500 years from now, maybe some group will go looking for where his bones were thrown, and seek to make him into who they wanted him to be, who he said he would be, who some sceptical but hopefully hoped he could be, eventually, as his memory down the ages carries forth of this crooked man with his evil family and friends that sought to destroy the great United States of America, and failed.

I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.

I saw him for the first time from this distance, from far far away, and it startled me.

ANd, to feel the pity I felt watching this King of 500 years come to life, literally, with this amazing facial reconstruction, like the portraits, but younger, as he was just 33 years of age.

I wonder what history will have to say of this man who runs the White House like some sort of TV reality show, seeking to control the future with his backwards look to the “greatness” of some yonder medieval years, and seek to find a paradise in that past, rather than forge forward, but instead yearn of times gone by, and old ideas and technologies, far far away.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.

After Richard, came the Tudor age, and Henry the VII, followed by his son, Henry the VIII.

“Unlike his predecessors, Henry VII came to the throne without personal experience in estate management or financial administration. Yet during his reign he became a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of an effectively bankrupt exchequer. Henry VII introduced stability to the financial administration of England by keeping the same financial advisors throughout his reign. For instance, other than the first few months of the reign, Lord Dynham and Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey were the only two office holders in the position of Lord High Treasurer of England throughout his reign.“

However, I am, of course, not advocating war, as battles of the 21st century are most effective when they’re bloodless – ask the Russians.

And, if history doth repeat, and considering what the rumpTus is going to do to the U.S. debt during his, hopefully, short reign, regardless, a fiscally responsible follow-up would probably go over well, after having to endure the spending spree of this crooked man and his crooked friends with access to the public purse.

“Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations—which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine—come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.“